Filipino Teens Want Sex Education in School

One of the most-discussed sections of the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill is the inclusion of sex education in school curriculums. Under the bill, parents will have the option to let their children attend sex education classes, which will teach teenagers about sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), responsible parenthood, and family planning methods, among other topics related to reproductive health.

Though the Catholic Church has rabidly campaigned against the bill, students who participated in a survey conducted by GMA News Online said that they want to learn about sex in school, as in the case of 150 campuses where modules of the Department of Education’s “Adolescent Reproductive Health” program has been tested in 2008.

"It seems much more formal and reliable than simply learning through hearsay and ‘advice,’” said a 17-year-old respondent who attended a high school which did not have a sex education program aside from a discussion in biology during their second year. She learned more about sex by attending a seminar about STDs organized by her school and by reading articles about the RH bill online.

There are also other respondents who preferred to get information about sex at home. One respondent was told by her parents that sex "is for married people to show their love and have children."

Another respondent, a 17-year-old student, said that though she was glad to have received information about sex from her family, she also wants to learn about it formally in school. "Living in the Philippines where conservatism still exists, teens seek for their answers on questions concerning sex from other teens as well. And that is a very bad idea. That is why I’d like to learn about it from school too, so we can all just look at it maturely," she said.

However, it seems that that teenagers would have to wait a little bit more before the bill becomes a law. Inquirer.net reports that Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto had postponed the holding of the bicameral conference committee on the measure, which was scheduled on the afternoon of December 18, saying that they don’t have a clean copy of the bill yet.